The story
The Siemens Group first bundled its financial activities into an organizational unit in October 1997. In addition to developing the financial business, the main focus at the time was to increase transparency for investors – by creating a separate financing balance sheet. Since 1999, Siemens Financial Services has been the center of expertise for financial services and the provider of financial risk management for Siemens in the market for business-to-business financial solutions.
From the very start, SFS’ responsibility included Siemens’ leasing and alternative forms of asset and equipment financing as well as project financing and equity participations. SFS was also put in charge of Siemens’ treasury and payment-transaction solutions as well as of the financial management of pension assets. In 2000, these responsibilities were expanded to include Siemens’ insurance operations – and later its venture capital activities.
In addition to the expansion of business operations, SFS’ international presence has grown (including the acquisition of Schroder Leasing in Great Britain in 2000).
In recent years, expansion has taken place not only in the established European and North American markets, but also increasingly in emerging markets. In March 2005, Siemens Financial Services established its own leasing company in China, Siemens Finance and Leasing Ltd. (SFLL) with headquarters in Beijing. At the start of 2011, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Services approved the acquisition of ZAO DeltaLeasing, a provider of equipment financing in Russia. On October 1, 2011, DeltaLeasing was renamed OOO Siemens Finance.
In June 2011, Siemens Financial Services Private Limited was established in India and was granted its non-banking finance license (NBFC license) from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Since then, the subsidiary has been providing financing solutions for Siemens’ customers in India.
At the end of 2010, Siemens Financial Services received its banking license in Germany from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. Siemens Bank GmbH adds loans and guarantees to the SFS product portfolio particularly in the sales-financing area.
In 2019, some of the functions of SFS has been moved to Siemens AG, as corporate unit, CF Financing.
From Wikipedia’s article on Siemens Financial Services, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5